Wire rope and strand unreeling apparatus

ABSTRACT

A system and apparatus for unreeling wire rope and strand in which reels of rope or strand are rotatably journaled upon especially designed fork lift pallets and stored in unreeling position upon especially designed structural racks positioned such that any one of a number of ropes or strands can be drawn as needed from the rack and through a length measuring mechanism prior to delivery to a customer.

Aug. 5, 1975 United States Patent n91 McCarthy et al.

2,948,483 8/l960 Petersenwu,,............i..i..,. 242/54 R 3 I95 832 7/1965 Kirchmeyer et al. 242/l29v6 WIRE ROPE AND STRAND UNREELING APPARATUS [75] Inventors: William J. McCarthy, Coopersburg;

Charles R, Nippert, S All Primary Examiner-Leonard D. Christian b h f P Almrney, Agent, or Firmloseph J, O'Keefe; Charles A. Wilkinson [73] Assignee: Bethlehem Steel Corporation,

Bethlehem. Paw

ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Jan. 8, I974 pp 431,816 A system and apparatus for unreeling wire rope and strand in which reels of rope or strand are rotatably journaled upon especially designed fork lift pallets and stored in unreeling position upon especially designed structural racks positioned such that any one of a [52] US. Cl. 242/l29.6

[51] Int. B65h 49/00 [58] Field of SearchHHm... 242/54 R, 1295-12962,

242 131 79 number of ropes or strands can be drawn as needed from the rack and through a length measuring mechanism prior to delivery to a customer.

[56] References Cited 10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures w 4 2 sm m W EH Tm Am m SW Em M Tm SB D E7 fin NH 1 5 9 5 4 m PATENTEDAUB 7 397. 914

WIRE ROPE AND STRAND UNREELING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is related to the storage and supply of wire rope and wire strand and more especially to the use of fork lift pallets and racks to store the strand and rope in position to be readily payed off from the reels for distribution to customers.

Wire rope mills and depots customarily store stock sizes of wire rope and strand on large reels. The reels have traditionally been stored on the floor of the depot or in large racks. When an order for wire rope or strand is received, the reel containing rope of the type required is rolled or carried to an open space and is jacked up, one side at a time, by means of jacks. When the reel clears the floor and can be rotated, the proper amount of rope is drawn off the reel and severed. The reel is then lowered to the floor and taken back to storage. An improved jack for this purpose is shown in US. Pat. No. 3,298,667 to Granthan et al. The entire jacking and unjacking process usually takes from to minutes, and sometimes longer, and is very wasteful and inefficient. Attempts to remedy the inefficiency of prior apparatus by the use of various types of stands and racks have not been successful. For example, racks have been designed to support several wire rope reels journaled on axles which are temporarily supported in brackets on the rack. The reels are placed on the racks by means of fork lift trucks or traveling cranes. Such racking" of the reels, while eliminating the use of jacks and the like, has not proven satisfactory because the reels and racks are not readily interchangeable. Large heavy reels of wire strand in the range of two and a half to five tons and up in weight have been particularly difficult to handle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing difficulties and problems in connection with the storage, distribution and supply of wire rope and strand have now been obviated by the present invention. In accordance with the present invention wire rope and strand is stored upon reels which are rotatably journaled upon forklift pallets comprised of structural side members secured together by tubular intermediate sections through which the blades of a fork lift truck may be fitted to lift the pallets. A-frame or inverted-V type supports mounted upon each of the structural members serve to support an axle upon which the reel is rotatably mounted between the A- frames. The pallets are designed to be mounted in position upon structural support type racks so that when an order for a given length of strand or rope is received the rope may be drawn from the reel without moving the reel from position upon the rack. The structural racks have several tiers and are provided with longitudinal support members which support the tubular or effectively tubular intermediate members of the pallets adjacent to and inboard of the structural side members of the pallets, which arrangement prevents the pallets from sliding transversely from the longitudinal support members. A catwalk is positioned between tiers of reels to provide access to the upper reels in the tiers and the longitudinal support members and floor of the catwalk are positioned with respect to each other so that the structural side members of one side of the pallets are positioned under the floor of the catwalk on the outside, or outboard, of the longitudinal support members of the racks. The rope is ordinarily drawn from the reel and directly through a strand measuring device prior to being packaged for or delivered to the customer requesting the strand. When the supply of strand or rope on one reel is exhausted, the pallet upon which the reel is mounted may be easily removed by a fork lift truck and another reel placed on the pallet, or alternatively a second pallet with a full reel already in position may be supplied and this pallet replaced in position on the rack. The present invention is particularly adapted for use in conveniently dispensing wire rope from large heavy reels of wire strand and wire rope, for example two and a half, five and seven ton reels of wire rope, strand or cable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation ofa wire rope and strand pallet in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pallet shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the storage rack of the invention being used in combination with the storage pallet shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a rope storage rack arrangement in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of the rope storage rack shown in FIG. 4 along the line 55.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of one axle mounting bracket of the wire rope storage pallet shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown a fork lift pallet comprised of parallel spaced structural channels 11 and 13 connected by flattened tubular hollow intermediate members 15 and 17 spaced from each other at a prede termined distance designed to accommodate the blades or forks 18a and 18b of a suitable fork lift truck. Oblong orifices are cut in the web of the structural members in position to admit the blades of the fork lift into the interior of the tubular members. An A-frame comprised of side members 19 and 21 plus upper connecting bracket assemblies 23 and 25 is mounted upon each structural base member 11 and 13. The various parts are preferably secured together by suitable welds. The upper connecting bracket assemblies 23 and 25 are each comprised of outer side plates 27 and 29 having a concave depression in their tops in which are secured semi-circular troughs 31 designed to accommodate a transverse bar or axle 33 upon which a reel 35 of strand is journaled. The trough 31 is preferably welded to the side plates 27 and 29. A cross piece 37 or other stop serves to close the outer ends of the troughs 31 in order to center the axles 33 upon which the reel is journaled and prevent the axle from sliding longitudinally out of the troughs. FIG. 6 shows a side detail view of one bracket assembly 23. It will be noted that the inner portion of the trough is beveled from the top to the bottom and the incline of the bevel extends toward the flange 36 of reel 35. The lower part of the beveled portion of each trough should extend nearly into contact with the flanges of the reel on each side. The bevels on the two troughs cooperate to correctly center the reel on the pallet as the reel 35 and axle 33 are being lowered into position on the pallet. After the axle 33 is placed in the orifices in the flanges 36 of the reel 35, hollow cylindrical bearing inserts 38 are placed over the axle and inserted into the reel flange orifices. The bearing inserts 38 have flanges 40 which butt against the outer portions of the reel flanges. The hearing inserts 38 facilitate rotation of the reels upon the axles without wear of the flanges and the flanges 40 of the inserts aid in centering the reels between the troughs 31 and prevent the beveled inside edges of the troughs from gouging and wearing the flanges of the reels. It has been found that the axle 33 should for proper operation be of a length which is only slightly less than the distance between the outer extremities of the troughs or between the cross pieces 37 of the troughs. If the dimensions of the axle are not closely similar to the longitudinal dimensions of the troughs the axle will tend to move from side to side during unreeling causing excessive binding of the sides of the troughs with the flanges with consequent poorly controlled unreeling. It is also important for the dimensions of the axle to be similar to the dimensions of the troughs so that the ends of the axle are positioned directly over the troughs and the supporting A-frames. Otherwise. it has been found, the weight of the loaded reel may be misaligned against the A-frames and cause them to be forced outwardly and eventually fail. Sudden failure of a pallet supporting a multi-ton reel of wire rope can be extremely inconvenient and possibly dangerous. The reel pallet of the invention, however, also incorporates a safety feature in that if the upper portions of the pallet should fail or the axle come out of its guides or brackets 23, the heavy reel rather than being released from the pallet, whereupon it could injure someone or damage equipment, will instead be released onto the tubular hollow intermediate members and 17 of the pallet structure from which will support it temporarily and from which it can then be removed to a safe position.

In FIG. 3 there is shown a rack 41 constructed from vertical structural members 43, longitudinal structural members 45 and transverse structural support members 47. Longitudinal pallet support beams 49 serve for support of the second tier of reel pallets. The longitudinal support members are spaced a distance apart which allows the tubular intermediate members 15 and 17 of the pallets to rest on the longitudinal beams 49 with the spaced structural channels 1] and 13 of the pallets positioned on opposite sides of the beams and between the vertical structural members 43.

Transverse aisle spacer and support members 51 connect inner adjacent vertical structural support members 43 above the level of the longitudinal support members. The transverse support members 51 serve to support longitudinal or other support members 53 which stiffen a grating 55 positioned between the tiers of reels to form a catwalk 57 and upon which workmen may stand and walk for easy access to the upper tiers of reels. A stairway 59 at one end of the grating provides access to the catwalk 57. The level of the catwalk 57 structure must be sufficiently above the longitudinal pallet support beams 49 to allow the structural side channels on the pallets to be inserted under the catwalk 57. This arrangement saves space and facilitates the labors of workmen who must have ready access to the reels and the area between the reels in order to quickly string the wire cable across guides on the racks. Trans verse supporting members 61 and 63 are arranged between each vertical structural member 43. These transverse supporting members preferably comprise channels arranged with their open side uppermost. A wooden timber 65 is inserted into the open side of the channels 61 and 63. This timber 65 serves as a support and bearing surface for wire rope or cable being withdrawn from the reels and passed to the end of the rack. The timbers soon become soaked with rope lubricant and worn perfectly smooth so that a minimal frictional resistance is presented by the timber against the rope or cable and no damage will be done to the cable. The transverse supporting members 61 are set below the top of the vertical structural members 43 so that the rope or cable is restrained on the side from leaving the tops of the timbers 65 by the members 43, which, if desired, may also be provided with wooden wear inserts. The transverse supporting members 61 preferably serve not only to support the wooden members 65, but also to stiffen the rack structure so that no transverse stiffening members are required at the top of the rack structure or above the wooden bearing surfaces, which stiffening members, if used, would interfere with ready stringing of the ropes or cables across the wooden members in the quickest possible manner. The completely open nature of the top of the racks considerably facilitates expeditious handling of the rope or cable in this area. Cross braces 67 and 68 to provide stiffness to the rack structure are preferably positioned respectively between the vertical structural members 43 disposed longitudinally of the rack on the inside of each tier only and transversely of the rack between each reel position. Reinforcing brackets 69 may be placed under each longitudinal pallet support member 49 to stiffen these members against the weight of the loaded pallets.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 the racks are arranged so that cable from any of the several reels can be passed through a single measuring device 71 positioned at the end of the rack as the cable is reeled onto a shipping reel by a single capstan device 73. The capstan 73 may conveniently comprise a device having rollers upon which the reel is deposited and which rotate the reel to wrap the cable about the reel. Several of the racks of the invention can be placed adjacent to each other in position to be serviced by one measuring device and capstan if these units are positioned at a sufficient dis tance from the racks. As shown in FIG. 4 the capacity of the rack arrangement can be temporarily increased if necessary by placing an individual reel pallet in front of the main rack of reels.

In the operation of the unreeling arrangement according to the present invention reels of wire rope or strand, after insertion of an axle 33 and bearing inserts 38, are lifted by a fork lift truck or a crane and the axles 33 journaled in the troughs 31 of the pallets. The pallets are then easily lifted by a fork lift truck and placed in position on the structural racks. When a length of a particular rope or strand held on a reel on a pallet in the rack is desired, this rope or strand is pulled from the reel over the intervening wooden members to the end of the rack and then through the cable measuring device to the shipping reel By use of the pallet and rack combination of the invention this operation is very much accelerated with a great increase in efficiency and customer satisfaction. Where supplying a normal order by the prior apparatus might take a full day due to waiting between orders, by use of the combined apparatus of the invention the delivery time may be cut to fractions of an hour enabling expeditious supply of even walk-in customers with cable. In the claims appended hereto the term wire cable is adopted as referring to both wire rope and wire strand as well as what may conventionally be known as wire cable.

It will be understood that while the side base structural members 11 and 13 of the reel pallet are shown constructed of structural channels they could just as readily be constructed of H-beam or l-beam sections. In this case the transverse tubular members would be superimposed over oblong orifices in the central webs of the H or l-beam sections. Likewise the A-frame supports upon the base of the pallets may be constructed or any suitable stiff structural members. In a like manner while the structural pallet supporting racks are shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 as constructed from channel type members they could in general equally as well be constructed from H or l-beam members through H- type members with their wide flanges will normally be too heavy for convenient and economical use.

The flattened tubular hollow intermediate members 15 and 17 of the pallet should be sufficiently rigid to support without bending or collapsing any heavy reel which may inadvertently fall upon the members, not only so that the reel may be temporarily supported upon and between and restrained from sliding off the members 15 and 17 by the side channel members 11 and 13 until it can be removed to a place of security or placed upon a new pallet. but also so that the tubular hollow member will not be crushed to such an extent that the blades of a fork lift truck cannot be inserted through such members in order to remove the pallet from the rack. A minor amount of give in the hollow members is not undesirable, however. In some cases it may be convenient to form the hollow tubular members from an inverted channel member with spaced keepers welded across the bottom, or the toe, to maintain the blades of a fork lift truck in the interior of the channel member during handling. The A-frame supports should, of course, be made and braced in as sturdy a manner as possible, but due to space and weight limitations it is very difficult to brace these supports securely against transverse forces and it is thus very important that the dimensions and fit of the axle 33 in the brackets 23 and 25 be such as to prevent side to side movement of the axle and maintain its ends directly and evenly over the A-frames.

Only a limited number of reels are shown in position in the rack shown in FIG. 3 in order not to obscure the rack structure. Normally, however, all or most of the reel positions would be occupied. Likewise in FIG. 3 only the transverse support members 51 of the catwalk 57 are shown, the longitudinal support members 53 and grating 55 being omitted in order not to obscure the remainder of the rack structure. The grating and longitudinal members of the catwalk are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for dispensing wire cable comprising:

a. a metal framework adapted for the support of a plurality of pallets having reels rotatably mounted thereupon,

b. each pallet being comprised of i. a rigid structural base comprised of,

a. two structural side base members having planar web portions and having oblong orifices through the webs of said structural members and spaced a distance apart to accommodate the forks of a fork lift truck,

b. tubular structural members superimposed over the orifices of (a') and rigidly securing the side members together.

ii. a metal A-frame secured to each of the side members,

iii. an axle passing between the tops of the A- frames adapted to rotatably support a reel mounted parallel to the side frames.

iv. semi-circular troughs mounted atop said A- frames and designed to fit closely about the ends of said axle with a minimum of longitudinal play between the axle and the troughs.

c. said metal framework being comprised of vertical and longitudinal structural members, the longitudinal members being adapted to support the tubular members of said pallets with the structural base members of said pallets positioned adjacent to and outside of each longitudinal member of the frame,

d. said metal framework defining at least two tiers of pallet accommodating unreeling positions with a working platform positioned between the tiers ad jacent to each upper of pallet accommodating positions and arranged so that the ends of the pallet bases extend partially beneath the working platform,

e. a means to support wire strand from said reels to one end of said metal frames, and

. strand measuring means mounted adjacent to said frame in position to measure cable being drawn from said reels on said pallets.

2. Wire dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 additionally comprising extended support means spaced periodically in said framework for support of said cable as it is being pulled through the framework.

3. Wire dispensing apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said extended support means is comprised of upwardly facing metal channels having a wooden member inserted in the channel.

4. Wire dispensing apparatus to claim 3 wherein said extended support means are positioned between and below the tops of the vertical structural members.

5. Wire dispensing apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the length of the axle is only slightly less than the distance between the outer ends of the trough members and the outer ends of the troughs are effectively closed to prevent significant longitudinal move ment of said axle.

6. Pallet means for rotatably supporting wire cable reel means comprising:

a. two structural side base members having planar web portions and having oblong orifices through the webs of said structural members and spaced a distance apart to accommodate the forks of a fork lift truck,

b. tubular structural members superimposed over the orifices of (a) and rigidly securing the side members together,

c. a metal A-frame secured to each of the side members,

d. an axle passing between the tops of the A-frames intermediate said tubular structural means of (b) and adapted to rotatably support a reel mounted for rotation parallel to said side frames, and

9. Pallet means according to claim 8 wherein said trough means is supported in downwardly concave bracket means securing the tops of members of said A- frame support together 10. Pallet means according to claim 9 wherein the length of the axle is only slightly less than the distance between the outer ends of the trough members and the outer ends of the troughs are effectively closed to prevent significant longitudinal movement of said axle.

i II II UNI'IED S'IATES PA'll'JN'l OFFICE CERTEFICATE OF CORRE ITION PATENT NO. 3 897 91 4 DATED i August 5,

INVENTOR(S) 1 WILJDIAM J. MCCARTHY ET AL.

H is certified that moi appears 1n the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Col. 6, claim 4, line 43, after "apparatus" insert the word -according--.

Col. 7, claim 7, line 5, "having" should read --have--.

Signed and Scaled this twenty-first Day Of October 1975 [SEAL] A! test:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arlesting Officer (ommissinner ofParenrs and Trademarks 

1. Apparatus for dispensing wire cable comprising: a. a metal framework adapted for the support of a plurality of pallets having reels rotatably mounted thereupon, b. each pallet being comprised of i. a rigid structural base comprised of, a''. two structural side base members having planar web portions and having oblong orifices through the webs of said structural members and spaced a distance apart to accommodate the forks of a fork lift truck, b. tubular structural members superimposed over the orifices of (a'') and rigidly securing the side members together, ii. a metal A-frame secured to each of the side members, iii. an axle passing between the tops of the A-frames adapted to rotatably support a reel mounted parallel to the side frames, iv. semi-circular troughs mounted atop said A-frames and designed to fit closely about the ends of said axle with a minimum of longitudinal play between the axle and the troughs, c. said metal framework being comprised of vertical and longitudinal structural members, the longitudinal members being adapted to support the tubular members of said pallets with the structural base members of said pallets positioned adjacent to and outside of each longitudinal member of the frame, d. said metal framework defining at least two tiers of pallet accommodating unreeling positions with a working platform positioned between the tiers adjacent to each upper of pallet accommodating positions and arranged so that the ends of the pallet bases extend partially beneath the working platform, e. a means to support wire strand from said reels to one end of said metal frames, and f. strand measuring means mounted adjacent to said frame in position to measure cable being drawn from said reels on said pallets.
 2. Wire dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 additionally comprising extended support means spaced periodically in said framework for support of said cable as it is being pulled through the framework.
 3. Wire dispensing apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said extended support means is comprised of upwardly facing metal channels having a wooden member inserted in the channEl.
 4. Wire dispensing apparatus to claim 3 wherein said extended support means are positioned between and below the tops of the vertical structural members.
 5. Wire dispensing apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the length of the axle is only slightly less than the distance between the outer ends of the trough members and the outer ends of the troughs are effectively closed to prevent significant longitudinal movement of said axle.
 6. Pallet means for rotatably supporting wire cable reel means comprising: a. two structural side base members having planar web portions and having oblong orifices through the webs of said structural members and spaced a distance apart to accommodate the forks of a fork lift truck, b. tubular structural members superimposed over the orifices of (a) and rigidly securing the side members together, c. a metal A-frame secured to each of the side members, d. an axle passing between the tops of the A-frames intermediate said tubular structural means of (b) and adapted to rotatably support a reel mounted for rotation parallel to said side frames, and e. trough means secured to said A-frames and adapted to closely surround the said axle and prevent longitudinal movement of said axle.
 7. Pallet means according to claim 6 wherein said trough members having beveled inner edges adapted to aid in centering said reel as it is being placed on said pallet.
 8. Pallet means according to claim 7 wherein said trough means cooperates with a flange upon a cylindrical bearing means mounted on said axle and adapted to facilitate rotation of said reel on said axle.
 9. Pallet means according to claim 8 wherein said trough means is supported in downwardly concave bracket means securing the tops of members of said A-frame support together.
 10. Pallet means according to claim 9 wherein the length of the axle is only slightly less than the distance between the outer ends of the trough members and the outer ends of the troughs are effectively closed to prevent significant longitudinal movement of said axle. 